I'm very fond of cows... well, all creatures really. Cows seem to have an air of independence and intelligence that has bypassed (most) sheep. My brother, who was a herdsman for a while, told me stories about cows who could break out of locked byres and bypass complicated feed systems to gain an extra snack. He also told me about an unlikely relationship between one heifer and the farm cat, who used to ride around the fields on the cow's back.
If you share my fondness for farm animals do take a look at Dave Wild's photos at www.notsowildlife.com. His images are candid and funny and capture the innermost thoughts of these domesticated beasts. You can also order prints and more from his site.
This year’s events
1 year ago
2 comments:
Thanks for the post. You're right about cows - while I've been taking these photos over the last few years, I can tell that different cows have different personalities and behave differently. Somce are just interested when I'm near with a camera and watch, some aren't bothered at all and will carry on munching, others are just silly and will run towards me, not in a threatening way though, they'll arrive and want to sniff and lick everything they can in a very excited manner.
I saw a BBC news video about dairy cows that were referred to with individual names seemed happier and produced more milk - a farmer on the video said that you have to think of them as big dogs that happen to produce milk!
I have seen some funny things too - I remember walking along the Chesterfield Canal between Worksop and Retford and seeing a calf and a goose running around chasing each other, taking turns. There's definitely more going on in their heads than a lot of people think.
Apologies for taking days to moderate my blog. This whole interweb thing is a bit of a challenge sometimes.
My brother's dream was to selectively breed farm animals for intelligence. He'd known so many incredibly bright cows and pigs (especially the latter) that he thought it would be interesting to see how breeding for that attribute would work out. Sadly he never got the chance to try it. Sheep on the other hand... let's just say that he didn't have the highest opinion of their reasoning skills.
I heard the other day that sheep are just animals looking for a way to die.
Post a Comment